I've been offered my first teaching job, at an English centre in Hong Kong! There's a few things on the contract that make me a bit nervous, but I don't know if this is just because I don't know how things work in Hong Kong / in the TEFL industry, or if it actually is because they're trying to rip me off and I should avoid at all costs. Please can anyone advise?

It's a 12 month contract with two weeks training and visa sponsorship, but there are clauses in the contract saying that if the employee leaves before the full year is up they have to give two months notice, forfeit half a month's salary and repay HKD5000 to cover visa costs. Is this reasonable? I know they have to cover their backs for their expenses and I've got no intention of leaving early, but it seems a bit draconian.

The pay is HKD20,000 a month, for 45 working hours a week (30 of which are teaching) over five days. Coming from the UK this sounds like a lot of hours but I know cities like HK have a culture of working very long hours. Does this sound fairly standard? (I'm not afraid of hard work! I just don't want to jump into a bad deal).

Thanks a million for any help anyone can give me. I can't wait to get to Hong Kong and start teaching, I just don't want to make the wrong decision through lack of experience.

I don't know what the average wage is in Hong Kong, a good place to start would be by looking at expat forums and getting a general idea of what the wages are, from what I have seen the average seems to be around £1000 a month which is about 12000HKD.

Also, are you sure that you would be alright teaching that many hours? I did a PGCE before my TEFL course and I found 22 hours was pretty tiring and time-consuming with lesson-planning on top.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you look for work in Hong Kong? I have just finished my TEFL course and I'm also wanting to work there